Thursday, December 9, 2010

Looking Forward

With 2010 winding down I thought I'd touch a bit on my running plans for 2011.

Actually my current racing season isn't over yet. Since March I've been racing more or less one race each month (only in November did I not race) and I'm going to extend that streak one month into 2011 and head down to Texas to race the Bandera 100k on January 8th. It was just announced this past weekend that Bandera will be the USTAF 100k trail national championship race for 2011 and '12. Hopefully this will help entice some top runners to line up with me next month, and I know of at least 2 top guys who are considering joining me there.

After Bandera I'll take a little time off and then race again in late March (either Way Too Cool or Chuckanut); early April (Lake Sonoma 50); and early May (either DTRE 100, Miwok, or Ice Age).

My summer will look a lot like this past summer: Western States, Crow Pass (tentative), and UTMB. I wavered for the entire fall on whether to run Western States again. I had fun in that race this year. The course was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. This said though, I certainly wouldn't be running Western States again if it weren't for Kilian and/or Tony both planning to run again next year. I just can't imagine the two of them lining up for a rematch in that race and me not being there to be a part of it.

Without a doubt though, UTMB will be my focus race for 2011. Ever since this year's race was cancelled I have been ready and anxious for next year's race. This race is so far above and beyond anything we have here in The States as far as the energy one feels in being a part of it. I still get goose bumps just about every time I think about running through St. Gervais in last year's race. On top of this I feel hungry and excited to race Miguel Heras after he got the best of me this past weekend in Marin. And I'm sure Kilian will be there again. And hopefully Tony. And all the other top runners who seem to be planning to flock to this race next summer.

Trail Ultra Running is becoming more and more of an international thing than ever before and I couldn't be any more excited about this then I am. I love the American Ultra Running scene/culture, but I think it's great to mix this scene/culture with the Ultra Running cultures around the globe. I feel like all the foreign runners who ran this past weekend (and did very well for themselves) was a huge step toward many of the top races around the globe becoming truly international events. I think next year's UTMB will have more of an American presence than ever, and I fully expect Americans to be a huge part of the race at the front of the pack. Beyond UTMB there are dozens of races around the globe that interest me, and will interest me more and more as they become globally participated events. Good stuff.

Interspersed amongst all of this racing next year, I am hoping to put on a couple Trail/Ultra running training camps up in Alaska next summer. I'll be posting more details on this in the next several weeks as I get more of the details figured out.

In all it should be another super exciting year of running. I'm looking forward to it.

Looks like another full schedule ahead of you Geoff. One you will fully enjoy running with some of the best competition in the world. Thanks for branching out and sharing with us what your plans are for 2011. Those training camps sound pretty awesome. Man, ALASKA! That would be something.

my girlfriend and i were talking about visiting alaska for the first time last night. this morning as i read about your potential training camp, i went ahead and took it as a "sign" ...ha! if you get some dates figured out, do let me know! pthurber@gmail.com

thanks geoff! your blog has been the source of some great inspiration and some great training ideas.

john and patrick,good to hear some early interest in this idea. i'm going to be in juneau for a couple weeks for the holiday and i'll be sorting out a lot of the logistical details of this in that time. my hope is to have dates set and moving forward with taking camp entries by sometime in early to mid january. right now i'm looking at doing 2 or 3 different five day sessions. probably one in early june, another in july, and maybe one in early august. i'll email each of you just as soon as i have some more definite details.geoff

matt,i was quite happy with the traction the MM gave me. running up from muir beach was a mess and i'm pretty sure everyone was having trouble with that stuff. other than there i was gripping great all day. and even on the climb out of muir i was able to find areas on the edge of the trail that weren't too bad. something with really big, wide spaced lugs would have been even better than what i had but i don't think the rogue racers would have been very good, just not enough depth to the lugs on the RR to grip onto the amount of mud out there.

The coolest part about running in AK is that you could go all day and night w out a light! Geoff do you recommend the Resurrection 100 run? It looks great. Is it an out and back? cheers and thanks for the insight. sign me up for the camps.

So nice to read the acknowledgement of how the ultra trail scene is getting more and more international, something which marathon and shorter distances already been for a while. Being a Swedish guy living in the US I´ve wondered what the top North Americans would do in Europe and vice versa. We´re just about to find out, and it is all very exciting! Keep up the excellent work Geoff!

Geoff, if you can see a way that our shop can help out with a Juneau training camp, please don't hesitate to ask. As you know, we have that great back room which can be used for meeting or whatever. Don't know what you have in mind exactly or what you might need but we would love to be able to help you out in any way we can.

Awesome job at the TNF race. Glad to see you are still going strong and enjoying it. Love the way you share with others.

i have an idea for you to find a 'filler' 100m race between WS and UTMB... a 'little' National title and from what I hear some good $$ as well (have heard $10k?! but that might be overall prize money).